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No. 208 Squadron RAF
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No 208(R) Squadron is a unit of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Valley, Anglesey, Wales. It operates the BAe Hawk aircraft.
squadron was established as part of the Royal Naval Air Service in October 1916 at Dunkirk as No. 8 (Naval) Squadron. In its earlier days, the unit flew Sopwith Pups, 1½ Strutters and Nieuport Scouts. Later in World War I it re-equipped with Sopwith Camels and was assigned to artillery spotting. The squadron returned to the UK briefly before being sent back to France to face the German offensive.
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Encyclopedia
No 208(R) Squadron is a unit of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Valley, Anglesey, Wales. It operates the BAe Hawk aircraft.
History
World War I
The squadron was established as part of the Royal Naval Air Service in October 1916 at Dunkirk as No. 8 (Naval) Squadron. In its earlier days, the unit flew Sopwith Pups, 1½ Strutters and Nieuport Scouts. Later in World War I it re-equipped with Sopwith Camels and was assigned to artillery spotting. The squadron returned to the UK briefly before being sent back to France to face the German offensive. While in France a significant number of Camels belonging to the squadron were destroyed by the RAF to stop the Germans capturing them during their advance. When the Royal Air Force was formed on 1 April 1918, the unit was renumbered No. 208 Squadron RAF.
After the war ended 208 Squadron remained with the occupying forces until August 1919, when it again returned to the UK for disbandment the following month. The squadron reformed at Ismailia in Egypt on 1 February 1920 by the renumbering of No. 113 Squadron RAF. It was equipped with RE8s and later Bristol Fighters.
World War II
208 Squadron was still stationed in Egypt at the outbreak of World War II. It joined the war effort in mid-1940 flying Westland Lysander reconnaissance aircraft and Hawker Hurricane fighters on army co-operation duties in the North African Campaign and the Greek Campaign of 1941. During the war it included a significant number of Royal Australian Air Force and South African Air Force personnel, along with other nationalities. Amongst members of the squadron at this time was Robert Leith-Macgregor, shot down on more than one occasion, once ending up taxiing through a minefield, but managed not to trigger any mines.
The unit was later stationed in Palestine, before returning to North Africa. It briefly converted to Curtiss Tomahawks, but received Supermarine Spitfires in late 1943 and flew them for the remainder of the war. From 1944, it took part in the Italian Campaign.
After World War II
Shortly after the war 208 Squadron moved back to Palestine where it was involved in operations against the Egyptian Air Force. In 1948, the squadron moved to the Egyptian Canal Zone. It saw action in the Israeli War of Independence, losing four Spitfires in combat with Israeli Air Force aircraft (which also included Spitfires).
In 1951, the squadron relocated to RAF Fayid where its Spitfires were replaced with Gloster Meteor jets. From there it moved to RAF Abu Sueir, relocating to RAF Takali, Malta, in late 1956, with interim spells earlier in the year at RNAS Hal Far, Malta, and RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. It disbanded at Takhali in January 1956. It reformed the same month in the UK at RAF Tangmere from a nucleus of No. 34 Squadron RAF. Two months later it returned to the Middle East with De Havilland Vampires and subsequently the Hawker Hunter FGA.9. In 1958 and early 1959 it operated from Nicosia and Akrotiri with a detachment at Amman. The squadron disbanded at RAF Akrotiri on 31 March 1959. The next day, 1 April 1959, it reformed at RAF Eastleigh, Nairobi, Kenya, by the re-numbering of No. 142 Squadron RAF under Squadron Leader R. Ramirez. It operated from Eastleigh from April 1959 to March 1960, being redeployed home to RAF Stradishall from March to June 1960, but returning to Eastleigh in June, sending detachments to Kuwait and Bahrain during the period. It was moved to Khormaksar once again in November 1961, under Air Forces Arabian Peninsula, which became Air Forces Middle East the same year. In June 1964 it moved to Muharraq in Bahrain.The squadron remained in the Middle East until September 1971 when it was disbanded as a consequence of British drawdown of the armed forces from East of Suez.
208 Squadron reformed in 1974 with Blackburn Buccaneers and operated in the low-level strike role, flying from RAF Lossiemouth from 1980 as part of No. 18 Group RAF. The unit was one of the last to operate the type before it went out of service in 1994. After retirement of the Buccaneers the squadron again disbanded but was reformed from
No. 234 (Reserve) Squadron of No. 4 Flying Training School. It moved to RAF Valley and started operating the BAe Hawk that it continues to fly to this day.
On 20 April 2007, a BaE Hawk from the squadron crashed near RAF Mona. The pilot was taken to hospital and discharged soon after. The accident was caused by a solo student stalling the aircraft on an overshoot.
Bibliography
- Rawlings, John D.R. Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Macdonald & Jane's (Publishers) Ltd., 1969 (2nd edition 1976, republished 1978). ISBN 0-354-01028-X.
- Rawlings, John D.R. The History of the Royal Air Force. Feltham, Middlesex, UK: Temple Press/Aerospace, 1984. ISBN 0-60034-990-X.
External links
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